DOVER – Rod Milstead represents the best of Delaware State University's football past.

His All-American career with the frequent MEAC-champion Hornets from 1988-91 was the foundation of an eight-year NFL stint during which the guard earned a Super Bowl ring with the 49ers.

But it's Delaware State's football future – and its immediate 6 p.m. test Saturday at Delaware – that command Milstead's attention these days.

Under a hot afternoon sun Wednesday, on the steamy turf at Alumni Stadium, Milstead attempted to convey those interests to the DSU offensive linemen he is in his first season coaching.

"I need more! Not fast enough! One red wave!" Milstead yelled to five linemen, wearing red mesh jerseys with white numbers, as they attempted to keep low while driving teammates backward during a drill. "Don't stop your feet on impact!"

Critiques were made, corrections implemented and successes praised during the session, which included Milstead, 44, sometimes joining the fray himself.

"He'll show you what he means by aggression," sophomore tackle Dimitri Hill had said earlier.

After one player responded favorably to that opportunity, Milstead told him "I'm going to put my face on Delaware's helmet.''

He reminded the players of the historical accomplishment that awaits the Hornets, who haven't beaten the Blue Hens in five tries, and what "a great story that would be Sunday morning."

Every day is homecoming for Milstead, hired in the spring by DSU coach Kermit Blount to teach and motivate the Hornets offensive linemen, a group without a senior in the two deep. They welcome his knowledge.

"You can't beat it," said guard Darren Helwig, a sophomore starter out of Smyrna High. "A guy who's got first-hand experience. He's actually done it. He can say 'It worked for me in the NFL, at the highest level. Do it in college and it'll work.'

"He could tell us to jump off a bridge and we'd probably too it."

Milstead will gladly settle for protecting the quarterback and creating room for running backs.

This is just Milstead's second season as a college coach. After his NFL career ended prior to the 2000 season, Milstead coached at his alma mater, Lackey High in Indian Head, Maryland, on the eastern shore of the Potomac River, until 2007. He then became a full-time father, raising daughters Misa, now 13, and twins Mila and Malya, 7, because "I was feeling like I wasn't being the dad I should've been," he said.

Missing football desperately, Milstead returned to coaching at the urging of his oldest daughter, first back at the high school level.

Last year, Milstead was offensive line coach at MEAC member North Carolina Central for interim coach Dwayne Foster, his former Delaware State teammate. The entire coaching staff was let go after the season but Milstead was hired soon after by Blount.

"It feels great to be home," said Milstead, who had actually applied for the DSU head coaching job before Blount was hired in 2011.

Delaware State shared two MEAC titles and won another outright during Milstead's four seasons. In the 22 seasons since, the Hornets have won one (2007) and he is determined to help Blount, whose 2012 and 2013 teams each went 5-3 in the league, steer DSU back to the pinnacle.

"We haven't just set our sights on the MEAC," said Milstead, who graduated with a degree in sociology/criminal justice in 1992. "We've set our sights on the bigger picture. That's what good teams do. They try to get into the playoffs and win a national championship.

"To have an opportunity to come back here, my thing is to teach these young men how to be good football players and good citizens and be able to use the same type of practices they use on the football field in the classroom, because that makes the complete football player. That's my main goal coming back here, and also sharing my life experiences."

Milstead, a 2003 inductee to the Hornets Athletics Hall of Fame, has had those.

He was a fifth-round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys out of Delaware State, then was traded to the Cleveland Browns in his first training camp. Milstead missed his rookie season with a back injury and spent two years with the Browns without seeing game action, before landing with the 49ers in 1994. He was on the team that beat San Diego to win Super Bowl XXIX on Jan. 29, 1995, then started 12 games in 1995. He later spent two seasons with the Redskins, starting 11 games in 1998.

"Not only his pro experience but just him as a person," Blount said of Milstead's importance to the players. "He understands the makeup of Delaware State. This is his family. He's a part of it. He helped create it. So certainly it's a plus for us to have him back."

Those NFL years left Milstead with an array of "teaching tools," he said, that he regularly employs.

An often-pulling guard in the Wing-T offense during his college days, Milstead helped the 1990 Hornets lead Division I-AA in rushing with 300.2 yards per game. That system, combined with the West Coast offense he played with the 49ers and others, leaves Milstead with a diverse knowledge of offensive football.

"The things I'm asking them to do are things I learned when I was a pro football player," he said. "These guys are much smarter and further ahead of where I was when I was here because I didn't have that.

"We're a spread team with a zone blocking scheme," he added, "and that's what I learned and have been running for years and I'm excited about showing these guys how to be successful."